Carrier for flanged article



Feb. 3, 1970 v B, FUNKHOUSER ET AL 3,493,261

CARRIER FOR FLANGED ARTICLE 2 Sheets-Sheei'l 1 Filed oct. 27, 1967 3 Q w wm DJM mM/rx QW l INVENTOR fAMEs /umcuousen and ClAMEsfl. 5Tour ATTorzNEY Feb.`3, 1970 v J. B. FUNKHOUSER ET AL 3,493,261

v CARRIERA FOR FLANGED ARTICLE Filed Oct. 27, 1967- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent O Ohio Filed Oct. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 678,724 Int. Cl. B66c 1/10 U.S. Cl. 294-872 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The carriers disclosed herein are for the purpose of tightly gripping an article such as a capped bottle nnderneath its cap and comprise tubular structures having top, bottom and side walls. According to one form of the invention the main wall of the carrier is the top wall and is provided with apertures for receiving the necks of bottles packaged therein, the apertures being deiined `by a plurality of lever tabs each having a bottle gripping part and an anchoring part and each tab being foldably joined to the main or top wall by transverse fold lines intermediate the gripping and anchor parts thereof. According to the other form of the invention, lever tabs are formed in a bottom panel of a tubular structure which comprises a carrier in which the top panel overlies the caps of the packaged bottles and in which the necks of the bottles protrude through apertures defined by the lever tabs. In this latter modification, slits are provided in the side walls for receiving the adjacent parts of the caps of the packaged bottles.

While this invention is primarily intended for use in conjunction with capped glass or metal bottles, it is not limited to such articles Ibut may be used in conjunction with tubular articles such as cans having anges at or near at least one end. A related invention which is primarily intended for use in conjunction with chimed cans and which is similar in certain respects to this invention is disclosed and claimed in United States patent application Ser. No. 605,036, tiled Dec. 27, 1966. Still another invention which is related in certain respects to this invention and which is primarily intended for use in conjunction with capped bottles is disclosed and claimed in United States patent application Ser. No. 636,471, led May 5, v1967.

A carrier constructed according to this invention is for use in conjunction with an elongated flanged article `and may comprise a tubular structure having bottom, top and side walls and wherein, according to one modification, a lever tab defines an opening in the top wall of the carrier through which a packaged article may protrude and the lever tab is arranged with a gripping part which engages the article underneath its flange together with an anchoring part which engages the article below the main or top panel of the carrier, the lever tab being foldably joined to the main panel and to a side wall intermediate its gripping and anchoring parts. According to another form of the invention, a lever tab constructed as described is formed in the bottom panel of the carrier and deiines an aperture for receiving the neck of a packaged article and the top panel thereof is arranged so as to overlie the tops of the packaged articles and the side walls are provided with slits arranged so as to receive the adjacent parts of the article flanges.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which FIG. l is a plan view of a blank constructed according to one form of the invention; FIG. la is an enlarged fragmentary view of a part of FIG. l; FIG. 2 is a per- 3,493,261 Patented Feb. 3, 1970 spective view of a setup carrier formed from the blank depicted in FIG. l; FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line designated 3-3 in FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a plan view of a -blank constructed according to a second form of the invention; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a package formed utilizing the blank depicted in FIG. 4 and in which FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on line 6-6 of the carrier depicted in FIG. 5.

With reference to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the top or main panel of the carrier depicted in FIGS. 1-3. Finger gripping apertures 2 and 3 are formed within main panel 1 in known manner and may include closure flaps hinged to main panel 1 along fold lines 4 and 5 respectively. Sloping shoulder panels 6 and 7 are foldably joined along side edges 8 and 9 of main panel 1. As used herein, sloping panels 6 and 7 constitute portions of the side walls of the carrier. Vertical side panels 10 and 11 are foldably joined to sloping panels 6 and 7 along fold lines 12 and 13, respectively. Side panels 10 and 11 are shown partially broken away in order to eliminate areas of the side panels which are space consuming while at the same time maintaining a convenient scale for FIG. l. Sloping panels 14 and 15 are foldably joined to side walls 10 and 11 along fold lines 16 and 17, respectively. Bottle receiving apertures 18, 19 and 20 are formed in known manner in sloping panels 14 and similar apertures 21, 22 and 23 are formed in sloping panel 1S and function in known manner to accommodate the lower parts of the packaged articles.

The bottom panel of the carrier is a composite panel comprising lap panel 24 which is foldably joined along fold line 25 to sloping panel 14 and a cooperating lap panel 26 which is foldably joined to sloping panel 15 along fold line 27. A medial separating strut panel 28 is foldalbly joined along fold line 29 to an edge of lap panel 24.

For the purpose of tightening the wrapper about a group of articles to be packaged, a plurality of tightening apertures 30-33 are formed in lap panel 24 and receive suitable machine elements which draw the lap panel 24 generally toward and parallel with lap panel 26 in opposition to similar machine elements which enter the tightening apertures 34-37 formed in lap panel 26.

In order to lock the carton by securing the lap panels 24 and 26 together, a plurality of locking tabs 38-41 are formed in lap panel 26 and are disposed to be driven into the apertures defined by retaining tabs 42-45 formed in lap panel 24.

According to this invention, article gripping means are formed in the main wall of the carrier and in the drawing such means are depicted at 46-51. These article gripping structures are identical and only one such structure is described herein. For example, article gripping structure 50 is shown in FIG. la and comprises a plurality of lever tabs S2-55. These lever tabs are foldably joined to the main wall and to the sloping panels 6 and 7 which are considered as parts of the side walls of the carrier along fold lines which are transverse to the tabs. For example, lever tab 52 is foldably joined to sloping panel 6 along fold line 56 and to main panel 1 along fold line 57. Similarly, lever tab 53 is foldably joined to main panel 1 along fold lines 58 and 59. Lever tab 55 is foldably joined to main panel 1 along fold lines 60 and 61 and lever tab 54 is foldably joined to main panel 1 along fold line 62 and to sloping panel 6 along a fold line 63. Cut line 64 separates lever tabs 52 and 53 while cut line 65 separates lever tabs S4 and 55. Small waste areas which are triangular in shape are designated by the numerals 66 and 67.

In order to assemble the carrier, the articles are in serted from beneath the top panel through the structures such as 46-51 so that the lever tabs such as 54, for

example, are caused to swing about their fold lines such as 62 and 63. When so manipulated the lever tab 54 is arranged with its anchoring part 68, as best shown in FIG. 3, disposed against the side of the packaged article B and with its upper or article gripping part 69 disposed immediately underneath the cap C of the bottle B.

Thus it is apparent that according to the invention lever tabs such, for example, as 54-53, being hinged intermediate their article gripping parts and their anchoring parts, exert a secure and positive gripping action. The lever tabs also tend to conform to the shape of the outer surface of the article B and hence are bowed in a transverse direction thereof. In this manner substantial strengthening of the lever tabs is achieved. The small waste areas designated at 66 and 67 may simply be detached from their associated lever tabs 53 and 54 during the formation of the package. If these small areas do not become detached they will tend to fold back against the exterior of their associated lever tabs so that their perforated fold lines 66a and 67a constitute article gripping edges. Since the waste areas 66 and 67 cause an irregular configuration of their associated lever tabs, it is necessary to dispose the cut lines 64 and 65 at such an angle as to define suitable gripping parts for lever tabs 52 and 54 which are properly oriented and spaced relative to the associated articles.

The carrier depicted in FIG. 4 comprises a main or bottom panel 70, side panels 71 and 72 which are foldably joined along fold lines 73 and 74 respectively to main panel 70 and a composite panel 81, 90. Bottle cap receiving apertures or slits 75-77 are formed in side panel 71 and similar apertures 78, 79 and 80 are formed in side panel 72. A top panel 81 is foldably joined along fold line 82 to side wall 72 and a side wall 83 is foldably joined along fold line 84 to top panel 81. A plurality of cap receiving apertures 85-87 are formed in side panel 83.

In order to secure the wrapper of FIG. 4 into tubular form, a pair of locking tabs 88 and 89 are formed on an edge of top panel 90 which is foldably joined along fold line 91 to side panel 71. These locking tabs cooperate with corresponding locking slots 92 and 93 formed along fold line 82.

In order to assemble the carrier of FIG. 4, the main panel 70 is securely held and the panels 72, 81 and 83 are folded upwardly and over the caps C of articles B along fold line 74. Thereafter panels 71 and 90 are folded upwardly along fold line 73 so that when so folded top panel 90 overlies the top panel 81 and side panel 71 is disposed in fiat face contacting relation with side panel 83. Of course the locking tabs 88 and 89 are inserted into the cooperating locking slots 92 and 93 so that the assembled carrier then appears as is depicted in FIGS. S and 6.

In accordance with this invention, a plurality of articles such as B are arranged with their neck portions protruding through the locking structure generally designated at 94, 95 and 96. All of these locking structures are identical and only one such structure is here described. For example, locking structure 96 comprises four lever tabs 97, 98, 99 and 100. A small circular waste area 101 is cut away so that the inwardly protruding parts of the lever tabs 974100 which are arcuate in shape constitute the article gripping part of each lever tab. Lever tab 97 is foldably joined to main panel 70 along a fold line 102 and to side panel 72 along fold line 103. Similarly, locking tab 98 is foldably joined to main panel 70 along fold line 104 and to side panel 72 along fold line 105. Lever tab 100 is foldably joined to main panel 70 along fold line 106 and to side panel 71 along fold line 107. Similarly, lever tab 99 is foldably joined to main panel 70 along fold line 108 and to side panel 71 along a fold line 109. While each lever tab in FIG. 4 is shown as foldably joined to both the main panel 70 and to one side panel such as 71 and 72, it will be understood that both fold lines such as 102 and 103 of lever tab 97 could be formed in top panel 70. Thus when a bottle such as B is arranged with its neck portion protruding upwardly through an aperture such as 94, the lever tabs 97-100 swing about their fold lines so that the inner arcuate portions thereof grip the associated bottle underneath its cap C. Furthermore, the anchoring part of each tab lies in firm engagement with the neck of the bottle. In the drawing, the anchoring part for example of lever tab 97 is designated by the numeral 110.

From the description above it is apparent that the lever tabs of both modifications of the invention are similar and that the two versions depicted simply indicate that the lever tabs may be formed in a bottom panel of a tubular carrier such as is depicted in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 or in the top wall of a tubular carrier such as is depicted in FIGS. l, 2 and 3.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood that the invention is not limited thereto and it is intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows.

What is claimed is:

1. A carrier for an elongated flanged article comprising a tubular structure having a main panel, a pair of side walls and a composite panel, at least one lever tab having an anchoring part and a gripping part disposed at opposite extremities thereof and said lever tab being struck from said tubular structure, said lever tab defining at least in part an aperture for receiving the articles, said lever tab being foldably joined along a pair of fold lines at opposite parts of said lever tab to said tubular structure and said fold lines being interposed between said anchoring and gripping parts and being arranged so that said gripping part engages the article underneath its fiange and with its anchoring part in engagement with a side of the article when folded out of the plane of the part of said tubular structure from which said lever tab is struck whereby a secure gripping action of the article is effected.

2. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein the lever tab is bowed into at least partial conformity with the exterior surface of the article and in a direction transverse to the part of said lever tab between said gripping and said anchoring parts.

3. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein said lever tab is foldably joined to said main panel,

4. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein said lever tab is foldably joined to said main panel and to one of said side walls along fold lines on opposite sides thereof and which are generally transverse to the part of said lever tab between said gripping and said anchoring parts.

5. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein a plurality of lever tabs are arranged in close proximity to each other to define a common aperture for receiving the neck portion of an article having a fianged cap and wherein said anchoring parts of said tabs engage the neck of the article and wherein said gripping parts of said lever tabs engage the article underneath the flange of the article cap.

6. A carrier according to claim 5 wherein the gripping parts of at least some of said lever tabs are defined by small waste areas of material which are attached to said lever tabs by perforated lines.

7. A carrier according to claim 6 wherein the ones of said lever tabs which incorporate waste areas are separated from the remaining ones of said lever tabs by cut lines which are configured to cause the gripping parts of said remaining lever tabs to be disposed with respect to the article in a manner which is comparable to the disposition of said perforated lines of the tabs having Waste areas of material.

8. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein said main panel comprises the top panel of a tubular carrier having bottom and side walls within which the body of the article is disposed.

9. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein said main panel comprises the bottom panel of a tubular carrier having top and side walls and wherein the top wall overlies the top of the packaged article and wherein the side Cil walls are provided with slits for receiving the flanged portion of the article.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ANDRES H. NIELSEN, Primary Examiner 

